Thousands of homes given facelift under Government scheme

3/5/00
Housing Minister Dr Kim Hames said today thousands of homes in more than 20 metropolitan suburbs would be targeted for a facelift under an on-going, multi-million dollar refurbishment scheme.
Dr Hames said that in the program's first year, the Government, through the Ministry of Housing, would spend $6.5 million renovating about 270 properties.
"While the Government's $300 million New Living program is working wonders with suburbs containing high-density public housing, there is more that could be done,"
he said.
"Perth is a hive of activity with a strong and diverse building industry.
"There are very few suburbs within a 10km-15km radius of these city centres where home owners are not renovating or rebuilding or where developers are not hard at work.
"In many of these it was becoming obvious that the public housing was beginning to look pretty old and tired in comparison with their neighbours.
"New Living has received national acclaim and has provided facelifts for a number of suburbs including Lockridge, Coolbellup, Balga, Kwinana and Karawara.
"Beside this high-profile program, I expect the refurbishment scheme will be a quiet achiever but the work undertaken through it to restore thousands of homes will be important to the overall look of the suburbs targeted.
"It will be an on-going program that will concentrate on older family homes."
Suburbs containing public housing that have been identified for work under this scheme include Bentley, Maddington, Kenwick, Forrestfield, High Wycombe, Gosnells, Huntingdale, Lynwood, Riverton, South Perth, St James, Thornlie, Wilson, Mosman Park, Fremantle, Beaconsfield, Hilton, Embleton and Eden Hill.
Dr Hames, who inspected two of three Embleton homes today where work has been completed, said they were prime examples of how the program worked, with more than $120,000 spent to renovate the houses which were all nearly 40 years old.
"A lot of work is needed to modernise older homes," he said.
"The kitchens and bathrooms usually have to be entirely remodelled, the houses rewired and repainted inside and out to bring them up to scratch."
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